Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive compulsive disorder, also known as OCD, is when a person has obsessions or impulses to do something repeatedly. They may have ongoing thoughts that are not reasonable for a person to have. In order to make themselves feel better about their fear or whatever they are obsessing over, they follow it with repetitive behaviors. For example, a person with OCD may think they are unclean or they have an obsession with staying clean. They may take several showers or bathes a day to help them feel better only to make their obsession with staying clean even worse.
OCD may have symptoms including both compulsions and obsessions. A person can have one or the other separately. Some may have sounds such as tics or similar movements considered intermittent. Some with OCD may want to have things in a particular order and bothers them when things do not follow a symmetrical sequence. They may deal with thoughts most people don’t want related to religion, aggression or sex. They can get stressed out quickly when things don’t go the way they want it to. They tend to avoid situations that can trigger additional obsessions such as avoiding touching other people at all times.
People with OCD have issues even medical experts have a hard time understanding. There are people who are not able to move forward with their lives because of something that happened in their past. For some sufferers it may have started off as a bout of depression and it spiraled into an obsession. Some people will refuse to change the way they live because they are stuck in the past. They may hold on to old things that are worn and old. To them it is something significant but to others it looks like a piece of trash.
People with OCD go through special treatment to try and help them get past their problems. For some patients it can take months or years to establish some level or normalcy. With others they refuse to get help even when people are there willing to help them. They may include counseling or working with a specialist to help them understand why they feel the way they do. For some OCD patients their habits could be life threating. There are times it can be changed when their environment changes. Overall it takes time and commitment of the patient if they really want to see change for the better.